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Olivia Milton
The former commander of the Army of Revolution, Olivia Milton came from humble beginnings and worked her way up through the ranks to eventually lead the force. After the disastrous Revolutionary War in which the Revolutionaries were defeated, Milton was forces to step down and effectively exiled for her failure. History Humble Beginnings Olivia Milton was born in 2238 in a small farming community located in northern Michigan. The younger of two children, she and her brother Kevin had a close bond as they grew up, one reinforced by the harsh conditions in which they lived. While raiders were rarely a problem due to the thin population of the area, the community was still plagued by various wild and mutated creatures from the wastelands. From an early age, Olivia was taught to use a gun so that she could protect herself and her family. The harsh life took a toll on them. Her father began to drink heavily, and fell into alcoholism after the death of their mother in 2249. An angry drunk, he would take out his aggressions on his children. Rather then being cowed, both Olivia and Kevin learned to stand up for themselves and even fight back against him. Finally in 2253, following a bad winter that wiped out most of their crop, Olivia and Kevin simply left home, taking with them their weapons and the family’s cap stash. They left their father behind to drown in his own impotent rage, and never once looked back. Travelling across the Michigan wastelands, the pair of them were able to sell themselves as caravan guards, taking advantage of the lessons they’d learned in the name of self-defence against both marauding wildlife and their father. The pair of them proved to be capable, protecting their charges against all manner of threats as they travelled across the wasteland. At the same time, they both had each other’s backs, watching out for each other and ensuring that neither would fall victim to the various threats that might imperil them. While initially Olivia and Kevin had no fixed destination in mind, as time went on they gravitated towards those caravans headed towards the Detroit Wasteland. All they had learned about the ruined city suggested that, despite the devastation it had suffered and constant state of low-level warfare, it was still an island of civilization in the wilderness. Furthermore, the city offered them opportunities that they would not find out wandering the wastelands, especially given their skillset and the constant need for capable soldiers. Joining the revolution In 2255, the pair of them arrived in the Detroit Wasteland through the trading hub of Park Lane. At that point, the city was in the middle of a growing conflict between its various organised settlements and a group known as the Army of Revolution, which sought to take control of the city. The latter was quietly snapping up warm bodies as soon as they could to bulk out their forces, often hiring through proxy. Despite the fact that they were often a victim of Revolutionary raids, Park Lane did nothing to stop their recruiters, who in turn ensured a constant flow of caps into the city’s coffers. The Miltons were approached by one such recruiter, who claimed to be representing an independent outfit that was seeking hires for treasure-hunting duties. Sussing him out, the pair of them got him to admit that he was working for the Army of Revolution; after some discussion, they decided that this would be the best opportunity for them, especially given the ongoing conflict within the city and the clear high turnover rate of independent operators. After receiving their signing bonus (as well as a little extra as a payment form the recruiter for keeping quiet about what he was doing), the pair of them were sent to an Army of Revolution forward base camp, which was an overly elaborate name for a derelict strip mall that the force was squatting in. While their actual training was minimal, the pair of them were subjected to an indoctrination that was heavy on pre-war imagery and emphasised the Army’s ideals of restoring the ‘real’ America, while also playing on the organisation’s supposed three hundred year history. Once they were thoroughly tested (more for their loyalty and belief in the cause then any actual competency), the Miltons were thrown into the frontlines of an escalating war of raids and counter-raids against the city’s settlements. Weather working together or separately, the pair of them proved to be far more capable then the average recruit, showing skill and imitative that allowed them to not only survive but actively thrive in the ongoing conflict. Soon both were leading their own squads, having outstripped (and quite often, outlived) their contemporaries. Olivia Milton’s first action as a sergeant only bought her even more distinction. An attack on a scavenger party, aimed at stealing whatever salvage they had on hand, quickly escalated out of control. The scavengers had been working on a pre-war weapons factory, and were being protected by a pair of Black Skull Company soldiers. Finding herself at a sudden disadvantage against a pair of skilled veterans, Olivia moved quickly and decisively to try and outmanoeuvre her opponents and regain the initiative. Her plan paid off, and while half her squad lay dead, so did the two Black Skull troopers, one of which had been a unit founder. And most importantly, the Revolutionaries not only took the salvage the scavengers had recovered, but also used their information to secure the site for their own. The counter-revolution As the fighting continued to escalate, Olivia Milton remained at the forefront of the conflict. Following several more victories, she was promoted to lieutenant, in charge of a platoon of soldiers. Milton proved to be a harsh taskmaster, very demanding of her men and expecting nothing but the best from them. At the same time, however, she treated them with far more respect then the average Revolutionary officer usually offered, and treated them as being more then the cannon fodder that many saw them as. On the personal side of things, Oliva had started as relationship with Alan Wilkins, another revolutionary officer. The pair of them did their best to keep it discrete, as such relationships were officially frowned upon. While affectionate and intimate, their relationship was not without its perils, both from the need to maintain privacy, as well as the pressures of being a part of an active millitary force. The biggest strain on their relationship came when Olivia discovered that she was infertile, something that threw their plans. Like Olivia, Kevin had found success within the army, with his career paralleling hers in a number of ways. This included in his personal life; Kevin having begun an affair with Wendy Lau, a supporting technician and weapon smith. In 2262, Lau bore him a daughter Lisa, whom Olivia couldn’t help but dote on. Behind the scenes, the pair of them continued to watch each other’s backs, ensuring that the other was protected from the Army’s oft vicious internal politics. But the greatest threat to them would, as allways, come form the outside. In 2264, the Black Skull Company began an organised campaign aimed at driving the Army of Revolution out of the city and ending their threat. After suffering a number of losses, the Army’s leadership stepped up operations in the hope of defeating their enemy. This instead played into the Mercenaries’ hands, as the Revolutionaries overextended themselves while trying to fight back, and only wound up exacerbating their losses. While she suffered defeats several times during this offensive, Olivia’s worst losses were on a personal level. Both Kevin Milton and Alan Wilkins were killed in action by Black Skull soldiers. Internally devastated, she did her best to maintain a professional demeanour and focus on her duties. Despite her effectiveness on the battlefield, however, she was not able to turn the tide of the conflict on her own, and the Army of Revolution continued to lose ground. In 2265, faced with what they saw as an untenable situation, the Army of Revolution began to scale back their actions within the Detroit Wasteland and withdraw their forces in order to preserve them. Knowing that they would be vulnerable, the Army assigned a number of units to perform rearguard actions and try to buy time for their forces to withdraw. Olivia’s unit was amongst them, left to do what they could to slow the enemy advance with whatever assets they had at hand. While it cost her unit dearly, Milton was able to buy the time the Revolutionaries needed to make good their escape. The withdrawal was not entirely clean or without casualties, however. Wendy Lau was killed in the process, the victim of a simple attack of opportunity. The long winter After months of staggered withdrawal, the Army of Revolution regrouped at its headquarters, the Michigan State Mental Hospital. Well outside of the city proper, the facility gave the force what it needed to rest, reorganise and plan for the future. For her part in their withdrawal, Olivia Milton was rewarded with a promotion to captain, the rank somewhat diminished by the losses the army had suffered. On a personal level, Olivia finally had time to grieve for her brother and her lover. In keeping with the Army of Revolution’s culture, she was careful to do such privately and inwardly, as to not show any weakness that could be used against her in future. At the same time, as her only living relative, Olivia took custody of Lisa and raised her as her own. As she grew, the two developed a strong familial bond, with Olivia determined to provide her adoptive daughter with the parental support that she’d never had herself. Her professional life was largely devoted to rebuilding the Army of Revolution and bringing it back into fighting shape. The losses they had sustained were crippling, and had occurred at all levels of their command structure. Adding to this, low morale meant that desertions were commonplace, resulting in an ongoing drain on manpower. Finally, the army’s financial and technological reserves were largely spent, leaving them with little money to hire new recruits or acquire new equipment. Against these problems, Milton stepped forward with a plan to hire out Army units as mercenaries, operating under false flags and deliberately avoiding taking jobs within the Detroit Wasteland itself. The plan was approved, with Milton being put in command of one of these fake units. For several years, her Razorclaw company operated in the Michigan wastelands, doing whatever jobs they would take for caps. Some of these, such as fighting for Ghouls in the Flint River region, were seen as distasteful, but also necessary to secure the future. During her travels, Milton also discovered several caches of high-tech equipment that were sent back to the Army of Revolution to help rebuild. In 2275, she was recalled to the Mental Hospital and promoted again to Major. By this point, the Army of Revolution’s condition had turned the corner; they were now taking in more recruits, had a decent financial reserve and had established new stocks of weapons, ammunition and other equipment. Milton was placed in charge of planning and development, with an eye towards a possible return to Detroit. Her intelligence operations suggested that the city had largely forgotten about the Army of Revolution and the threat they once posed; rather, the individual settlements were divided by their own rivalries, and more focused on gaining any advantage over each other then anything else. Prelude to War In early 2279, Colonel Ben Perry, the commander of the Army of Revolution, chose to step down from his position. In doing so, he appointed Olivia Milton as his successor. This move was largely well received, but there was some dissent. There were those who had sought the position for themselves, or didn’t like the fact that Milton, despite being with the army for neatly a quarter of a century, had come from outside the unit rather then being connected to one of its founders. And then there were a few that simply couldn’t stand the idea of taking orders from a woman. Despite this, Milton was accepted by the majority of the army, who quickly fell in line behind her. News from the Detroit Wasteland quickly buoyed her position when it was revealed that their long-time enemies, the Black Skull Company, had suffered considerable losses in battle. Having lost their commander and a good potion of their force, the mercenaries had retreated to rebuild, and were lowering their profile. Some speculated that the unit might not survive at all, which lead to a growing voice within the Army calling for war. In response, Olivia began to make plans with her inner circle for such a return. Not one to rush into things, she wanted to gather as much intelligence as possible on the state of the city and its inhabitants so that she could plan appropriately. Again, there were those voices that questioned her reluctance, suggesting that she was afraid to act. Milton refused to let them goad her, knowing that to rush in would only lead to the destruction of everything they had struggled to build. These intelligence missions yielded one surprising result, reporting on the rise of an industrial settlement in the Flint River region. Known as the Foundry, this settlement had begun production of weapons, and were openly trading with others. Seeing the value in this development, Milton put out feelers towards the Foundry, finding that they and the Army of Revolution shared a number of common beliefs. This contact lead to a formal alliance, where the Revolutionaries would provide the Foundry with raw material and food in exchange for weapons. Milton even travelled to the Foundry herself to seal the deal, an act that seemed to impress their enigmatic leader. This development emboldened a number of the Army’s senior members, who became more hawkish and aggressively pushed for war. One of them, Martin Kruger, came forth with a plan he had codenamed SAVAGE HAMMER, aimed at the conquest of the city. While Milton saw his plan as being ambitious, she also could see that Kruger had considerable support behind him in his push for conquest. Seeing an opportunity to massively advance their cause, Milton approved the plan, and in doing so promoted Kruger to second in command of the army. The Revolutionary War While she remained the commander of the Army of Revolution, Olivia Milton left much of the day to day management of the conflict to Kruger and her subordinates. She knew from her own experience in their prior conflicts that overly centralised command would only serve to strangle lines of communication, and slow the advance of their forces by sapping them of their individual initiative. This was especially important in a campaign intended to be as far-reaching and sweeping as SAVAGE HAMMER, where momentum would be key to victory. Internally, however, Milton had taken precautions to ensure that she was fully in the loop and not being deliberately excluded. Her loyal supporters made sure that she received regular and accurate intelligence updates and reports, and that Kruger was not holding anything back from her. While she had no reason to suspect him of any disloyalty, she also was realist enough to know that he wanted her position, and would try to use this war to claim it. However, she remained unware of just how deeply Kruger had subverted her command structure, most notably Majors Ken Pendleton and Kim Cho, the two main field commanders in the conflict. At first, Milton was pleased with how the war was unfolding. Both of the initial targets, Baggie High and Scrap Iron City, fell quickly (and faster then her own intelligence had suggested). This put them on track for what she saw as one of their three most important goals, the capture of Chryslus Castle. However, as Army’s forces stalled and failed to take the castle or even penetrate its defences, she became concerned. Taking this to Kruger, she suggested that he call off the southern advance towards Park Lane in order to concentrate on taking Chryslus. He countered by saying that momentum was key to the campaign, and that holding the southern advance would give Park Lane and Grand Central time to organise their defences to stop their forces. Taking this into consideration, Milton agreed to his plan, albeit with some reservations. Her concerns proved to be justified. Not only were the forces around Chryslus now bogged down and unable to make any headway, but the southern advance also stalled. Having reached the gates of Park Lane, the task force were unable to capitalise on their success and instead found themselves drawn into a morass of fighting with raiders and other irregular forces in downtown. Milton tried to take control of the campaign and order their forces to consolidate and focus on Chryslus, but Kruger’s loyalists ensured that those orders were either lost in the shuffle or not fully acted upon. Realising just how bad the situation had become, and the degree to which Kruger was trying to undercut her, Milton took direct action. She sent runners that she knew were personally loyal to her to Pendleton and Cho, ordering them to withdraw back to friendly territory. Those messages also made it clear that failure to act on her orders would be considered an act of treason, and subject to the maximum possible penalty. The pair of them agreed, both retreating in order to salvage what forces they could, in essence abandoning the war. The war had been devastating for the Army of Revolution, costing it massive amounts of manpower and equipment for only relatively small gains. For Olivia, the losses were even more personal, as Lisa Milton was reported killed in the last days of fighting. Category:Characters